The next iteration of the Apple Mac OS operating system releases today (Update: Available NOW) which brings it to version 10.8 called Mountain Lion. The new update brings a few new features and costs $19.99 for an upgrade from the App store. At the time of this writing it is not yet available for download.

Mountain Lion includes the following new features:

System that can handle the update:

iMac (Mid-2007 or newer)

MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or early 2009 or newer)

MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)

Xserve (Early 2009)

MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)

Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)

Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

Here is the list of the major updates:

Mac messages. You can now use iMessages (text messages between iOS devices) on your Mac as well. When someone sends a message to your phone number or Apple ID it will automatically populate to all devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Mac. They have also fixed the problem of fragmentation and multiple conversations split between phone number and Apple ID. However, the final piece of the fix action comes with iOS 6 in the fall.

Notification Center is much like the third-party software most Mac users have, called Growl. It provides pop-up messages when your Mac has something it needs to tell you.

Sharing with social media has gotten much easier with baked in support for Twitter, Facebook and Messages.

Safari update. They have a unified URL and search bar (think Google Chrome). When a user types something in there, it will auto-populate with suggestions from the web and history. Also, it is iCloud enabled so your tabs, bookmarks, and history will be synced across all devices

Dictation. Siri hasn’t truly arrived on the Mac yet, but this is the first step with the ability to dictate to any third-party application.

Power Nap. Your Mac is no longer worthless while asleep. With Power Nap enabled, it will download updates, fetch emails and auto-sync while asleep so you don’t have to worry about using valuable resources to do it while you are working.

AirPlay Mirroring (2nd generation Apple TV required). With this feature you can display your Mac’s screen on you TV wireless using your Apple TV. We have been able to do this with iOS for a while, but now the Mac can too. There is no longer a need to make people cram around your laptop to watch YouTube videos of cats.

Game Center. It looks just like the Game Center on iOS.You can track achievements, scores and challenge people to Game Center enabled games on your Mac.

Reminders. Apple added reminders to iOS and now they come to the Mac (and sync with iOS). No more forgetting.

Notes. Jot down a quick note without opening a word processing application.

Will you be upgrading to the newest build of Mac OS X? We would like your opinion below. The upgrade should be available here and in the Mac App Store when available. If you bought your Mac on or after June 11th 2012 check this page to see if you get it for free.